Re-living history: History teacher a British Royal Navy reenactor

Friday

Aug 31, 2007 at 12:01 AMAug 31, 2007 at 10:28 PM

History teachers do their best to make the past come alive for their students. Derby Academy history teacher Pete Condrick takes it to a whole new level. For 10 weekends a year, Condrick transforms into Lieutenant Peter Condrick of the British Royal Navy, circa the 18th century.

By Nancy White

History teachers do their best to make the past come alive for their students. Derby Academy history teacher Pete Condrick takes it to a whole new level. For 10 weekends a year, Condrick transforms into Lieutenant Peter Condrick of the British Royal Navy, circa the 18th century.

Condrick is a historical re-enactor, a hobby that takes him and about 30 fellow re-enactors to famous Revolutionary War battlefields throughout former colonial America to portray the crew of the HMS Somerset, a British warship stationed in Boston Harbor during the Revolution.

“No one had really researched the British brigade,” and they weren’t represented at the scores of re-enactment events Condrick had attended over the years, “it wasn’t good history not to have the navy presence.”

After spending six months aboard the tall ship, Sloop Providence, Condrick returned to Massachusetts to find his friends and fellow re-enactors had named him master and commander of the His Majesty’s Ship Somerset with a crew of six and three upcoming events. And there his British Royal Navy re-enacting career began.

However, Condrick historical re-enacting career was born out of an early love of history, particularly the Revolutionary War. At the age of 11 he joined the Hingham Militia, where he would wear a historical uniform, carry a musket and march in local parades.

“Those guys taught me a love of history,” he says but his passion for re-enacting couldn’t be contained to sporadic parades.

“At 14 I joined the British army and never looked back,” he quips. As an example of the depth of his interest, he says instead of a car or a new stereo for his 16th birthday, Condrick asked his parents for a musket — a traditional 18th century gift for a boy turning 16.

While continuing his British army re-enactments, he branched out and learned how to sail tall ships. With sailing expertise and a desire to educate people about the British Navy’s influence during the Revolutionary War drove him to trade in his red coat for a navy blue lieutenant’s jacket eight years ago.

“It was the perfect marriage of my two interests,” says Condrick, a former Cohasset resident.

In 2001, the HMS Somerset incorporated as a ship’s company and established bylaws, regulations and a budget. The HMS Somerset was the first British Royal Navy re-enactment company in New England and now is the “flagship of the North American Squadron.” There are five other Royal Navy re-enactment companies in the US. In June 2005, Condrick’s crew joined the other British Navy officers and seamen in Williamsburg.

“It was the first historical re-enactment that was numerically accurate with a one to one ratio,” says Condrick, in 1780 there were about 65 members of the British Royal Navy, almost 225 years later there was again that number in Williamsburg.

Condrick’s crew is comprised of 25 warrants and rated seamen, two officers and four marines. Although they portray a British navy crew in uniforms and in skills, they lack a key element of the British Royal Navy — a ship to call their own. A tight budget is the reason — to replicate the eighteenth century warship would cost over $25 million just to build the hull, says Condrick.

“We’re progressive in the hobby,” says Condrick, which means they try to be as historically accurate as possible. They wear hand-stitched uniforms and try to pick events where the British Navy would have been. It also means they possess the skills members of the British Navy would have possessed. At an event at Fort Tabor, they borrowed ships and landed them on the beach. At a re-enactment of the Battle of Saratoga, they portrayed how the Navy would have moved on a battlefield —“we move very quickly on the field,” he says. The Navy personnel were demolition experts too, so they can demonstrate that skill as well.

Condrick does not take on a British accent, but he does immerse himself in his first lieutenant role during re-enactment.

“We’re not just playing guns, there are controlled explosions,” he says so there are safety concerns, but mostly he just loves getting into the part, “I’m very aware of my eighteenth century command role, I get into it.”

The third HMS Somerset built in 1746 was instrumental in the events leading up to the American Revolution. It served during the French and Indian War as a third-rate ship of the line. She was responsible for the closing of the port of Boston in 1774, and the landing of British troops in Boston and New York. The HMS Somerset III met its end when it ran aground off the tip of Cape Cod while chasing French frigates in 1778.

“The highest compliment a re-enactor can be paid is to be recognized by its British affiliate,” says Condrick and that’s just what happened in 2005. The Captain of the HMS Somerset IV contacted Condrick after stumbling upon the re-enactors website. Condrick invited the Captain and other members of the current HMS Somerset to come to the US to experience a re-enactment.

The British Royal Navy returned the favor by inviting Condrick and six of his crew to come aboard the HMS Somerset IV. They boarded the ship, a Type 23 frigate built in 1994, in London and went underway through the English Channel with the Royal Navy.

“I was an honorary lieutenant in the Royal Navy for six days,” says Condrick with a big smile, “it was amazing.”